The government has extended the deadline for Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification on imported electronics products till January next year, said sources familiar with the development. This will come as a huge relief for hardware sellers and consumers, because supplies would have been severely disrupted if the government had stuck to its October 3 deadline.

Union minister for communications & IT Kapil Sibal held a meeting with representatives of the Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT) on Thursday to address the certification conundrum. TOI had reported on Thursday that three major US trade bodies had also protested the October 3 deadline.

The initial government deadline for certification was April 3, which was extended to July 3, and once again to October 3. The extensions became inevitable following industry protests, and the realization that BIS had not been able to establish the testing infrastructure necessary to ensure timely certifications. Numerous products submitted many months ago for certification are yet to be certified by BIS.